Summer 2018

As I write this blog, there are two weeks to go before we break for the summer holiday, so it would be reasonable to expect that staff and students are starting to wind down now that the “exam season” has finished. Particular thanks must go to the Exam Team who, over a period of two months, ensured that 14,202 exam papers were taken by our students. The scale of their job is immense! However, winding down is the last thing that’s happening. Last week, our students enjoyed an extremely successful Combined Cadet Force camp and, amazingly six of our students won the Ryman National Enterprise Competition, beating 50,000 students in 10,000 teams, representing 275 schools from across the country. Theo Paphitis personally congratulated the students on their success which they thoroughly deserved.

This week we are preparing for the four performances of our Academy production, “School of Rock” – if I can give it a quick plug, there are still tickets available on Wisepay. And we still have a number of trips, the Academy Sports Day and our Y6 Transition Day next week, as well as getting ready for September! So winding down is the last thing on our minds.

Next September will see a big change at the Academy as we open on three sites: Dove Campus will be the home for Y7 and Y8 to provide their start to secondary education; the Trent Campus will base Y9, Y10 and Y11 as they prepare for and start GCSE standard courses; the Sixth Form Campus adjacent to the Town Hall will open in September, and we are delighted that 400 students will benefit from these state-of-the-art facilities. We are currently in the final stages of “de Ferrerising” the building and taking deliveries to prepare for the new academic year.

I would finally like to take this opportunity to wish all of our students, parents and carers an enjoyable and safe summer break.